McDonald’s Pushes Stores to Stay Open on Christmas

On November 8th, McDonald’s USA Chief Operating Officer Jim Johannesen sent franchise owners a memo that read, “Starting with Thanksgiving, ensure your restaurants are open throughout the holidays.” This push helped McDonald’s post sales growth of 2.5% in November, after dropping 2.2% the previous month.

Wanting to duplicate this success, the brand is pushing for stores to stay open on Christmas Day. According to the same memo, the fast food giant’s biggest holiday opportunity is Christmas Day. Workers at McDonald’s locations owned by the company work holidays voluntarily and do not receive holiday pay. Franchisees are allowed to make their own decisions regarding overtime and holiday pay.

AdvertisingAge, who obtained the internal memo asked McDonald’s for a comment on the document and was told in an e-mail Â by Spokeswoman Danya Proud, “The story is based on leaked information obtained through unauthorized means. As such we are not in a position to confirm or deny the speculation.â€

This represents a shift in the corporate message regarding being open on Christmas.

Richard Adams, a former McDonald’s franchisee said, “you would never even talk about being open on Christmas, even if some were open on Thanksgiving. For the franchisees, this is a big cultural shift.â€

This change in corporate policy could stem from McDonald’s suffering its first monthly sales decline since 2003 in October.